


say what you have to say (even if it's goodbye)

by hallieCB3



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gingerflower, Gingerrose - Freeform, Minor Reylo, Star Wars AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26824384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hallieCB3/pseuds/hallieCB3
Summary: Rose is in love with a poor soldier but marries Armitage, a wealthy man, but later falls in love with him.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico
Comments: 14
Kudos: 41





	1. Rose I

**Author's Note:**

> This came up from a Twitter prompt asking about two images from Rose and Hux and it made me think of a telenovela (specifically one named "Bodas de Odio" by Caridad Bravo Adams) plot so this is pretty much a Regency AU but with not exactly historical accurate and we have a diverse cast just because. Hope you like it!

Rose looked at her reflection the day her life was supposed to change forever.

She focused her sight on the image in front of her eyes, something many young women would be willing and enthusiastic to have.

It was her reflection, wearing a precious wedding gown in white, made of the finest fabrics.

Her face showed signs of sadness, though.

She looked beautiful, even if in her eyes she could not show the excitement any young woman would have to be in her place.

She was going to marry Mr. Armitage Hux, one of the most eligible bachelors in town, and one who was able to ignore the fact she had no dowry.

He was a wealthy landowner, but she didn't really care about wealth.

But did she have another choice? She was a penniless orphan, with no relations on her own. Her parents and her older sister Paige had died leaving her at the charge of Mrs. Holdo with no prospects and no inheritance to make a suitable match. Rose only had a distant cousin who was also lacking of own fortune, Poe, who had chosen to join the rebels and fight with them.

But she didn't care at all. A few months ago, she realised she was in love with Finn, a poor soldier who was in town with his regiment, and she promised to wait for him when he left to go fight.

Nevertheless, she was about to marry another guy.

Things had changed so much in the previous weeks.

First an urgent letter from Mr. Wexley, one of his cousin's friends notifying her that Poe had been taken prisoner by the Empire. Then not even a fortnight later, her friend Jannah, Finn's cousin, had informed her that her cousin had died in battle. He had been in the middle of an explosion and perished immediately. Her heart felt like breaking in a million of pieces. She didn't even have a grave to grieve for him and for the future she had imagined with him.

All these events made her take a decision. She had been aware of Mr. Hux intentions towards her, and Mrs. Holdo was keen on convincing her of how crucial for her future was to accept him.

_"Rosie, I wish there was another way but I think it is the best choice for you to accept Mr. Hux. He is a respectable gentleman, even if he was an illegitimate son but he was legitimised before his father's death, and he is the only heir of Arkanis Manor. Your future will be settled and he does not mind about you having no dowry of your own."_

_"It is fine. I will marry him." Mrs. Holdo looked at her incredulous. She had been insisting on the topic so many times, she was surprised when during afternoon tea, Rose's answer was positive._

Rose came back to the present, but couldn't help but think of how things could have been if Finn had come back to marry her, as he promised.

She remembered him, wearing his Imperial soldier uniform, with his dark eyes looking at her shining so bright after he had stolen a kiss, her first kiss, and dared to talk to her about his feelings towards her.

_"Rose, I know I am asking too much, but I promise you I'll come back and you will make me the most fortunate man in the world if you wait for me."_

She had dared herself to dream but it was a dream that life had taken away from her.

Now she would give herself voluntarily to another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	2. Hux I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux is looking forward to be married, but dwells on his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! Good news is that I have the outline of how this story is going to go, but trying to keep a certain pace.  
> Hope you enjoy meeting Armitage and some of his friends.

He was ready. He was already dressed in his bridegroom suit, a elegant black suit with a black tie, making him look dashing (his cousin's words) 

Everything looked perfect in their wedding. Mrs. Holdo took care of all the details and everything was organized as expected to be done for one of the most eligible bachelors in town.

Armitage didn’t really care about luxuries. Sometimes he wondered if he was still the son of the kitchen maid, and felt he didn’t deserve all of this.

Perhaps that was why even when a lot of young ladies had tried to get his attention thinking of his fortune. And perhaps it was why Rose had captivated him, by being as natural and unaffected as possible around him.

“Are you having second thoughts?”

He heard the deep and grave voice of his best man and best friend, Ben, who was standing aside him.

“Not at all”, he responded with a chuckle.

“I’m glad she’s taking me, even if she doesn’t love me.”

Ben threw him a doubtful look at him.

“Come on, any young lady would be lucky to have you, especially one without prospects. Love will come when you are married.”

“I guess not all of us are as lucky as Mr. Solo who married the girl who already loved him.”

“...and the one he loved.”, Ben’s face showed a broad smile when he saw his wife's hazel eyes brightly looking at him with a smile.

Ben and him were friends since they met in boarding school. He felt like a fish out of water with all those highborn boys, and clicked immediately with the sullen, brooding dark-haired boy who had arrived shortly before him, but that was friendly towards him even regardless his condition of natural son.

Then it was Armitage's turn to smile.

He saw Rose walking to the altar, wearing the dress that Mrs. Holdo had helped her choose. He had pointed out to her she should not worry about the cost, he might not have cared about luxuries himself but wanted Rose to have only the best.

She looked so beautiful. With a kind and soft smile, but with a sad expression in her eyes.

Mrs. Holdo had mentioned some kind of foolish illusion she'd had, some tender friendship towards a friend of her cousin and some kind of tragedy that had saddened the soul of Rose, but nothing to worry about, according to her tutor.

What he would not do to make everything in his power to make her happy?

\-------------------------------------------------------------

He opened the door, and saw her standing in front of the bed, with a silent yet frightened look in her face. 

"Did you enjoy the party?", he asked softly to her, daring to walk closer to her but to keep her distance.

"Yes", her voice was slightly shaky.

She was nervous, and he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable on her wedding night. Perhaps he didn't deserve her at all, and he was trying to impose his presence when it might not be the best thing.

Apparently, his own visible shyness and insecurities might have emboldened her and she said, suddenly:

"Why did you agree to marry me? I have no prospects, no dowry, no money of my own."

Her dark eyes were looking directly at his, as if looking for strength to go on.

"Because marrying you is enough, I don't need any lands or rents to compensate what you are worth to me."

Her eyes looked at him with such a softness, as if she was wondering if his words were true.

He started walking towards the door. "We don't need to rush. I don't want to pressure you."

"Wait."

She was standing at the top of her height with a decided look on her face.

"Please stay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! We will find out what happened next!


	3. Rose II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after, from Rose's perspective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I might or might not have been listening to "Kiss from a rose" from Seal while writing this.

"Please stay"

She heard her own voice, steady though she had been nervously trembling a few minutes ago.

She was decided to go on, to proceed as it was expected of her. She felt as if she was walking towards the edge of the cliff, with no way of turning back.

She was ready to go as a lamb to be slaughtered or a damsel to be sacrificed to the gods.

Truth to be told, she was surprised.

Of course she had no idea what was supposed to happen between a husband and a wife during their first night together. She suspected from loose bits of conversations and hushed words between girls her age but nothing as actually going through it, as experiencing it.

She slowly woke up while the first rays of light went through the window. Her dark eyes opened completely when she realised that there was someone by her side, sleeping in the same bed with her.

She had married him the day before. And it was the morning after the wedding night.

Rose remembered how she had found her inner strength to ask her husband to stay, when he seemed to be afraid to force her into something she did not want.

It seemed he knew she did not love him. And it made her heart ache to see how much he visibly care about her, even if he was aware about her true disposition towards him.

She knew she had to look forward and beyond. There was no point on dwelling in the past. And with that knowledge, it was as she had jumped from the cliff.

Nevertheless, the uncomfortable experience she had expected at the bottom of the cliff was not uncomfortable at all. It had been... pleasing.

She was truly confused.

From what she had heard, what transpired between husband and wife during their wedding night was more for his pleasure than for hers. It was something to be done by a woman to become a wife and later, a mother, but not a great source of pleasure or enjoyment to be found.

The source of her confusion had been that she had enjoyed it, though.

It was true her heart was sealed and broken after losing Finn. And she had been afraid she would not dare to fall for any other man the same way he had for him and she had been afraid the pain to go through this would be unbearable. She had expected this to be unpleasant and something to be dealt with.

But it was not like that.

Was something wrong with her?

Or perhaps she warmed to how much Armitage seemed to care about her. 

She closed her eyes and thought of the night before.

He had been really kind and sweet. He acted slowly, as if he was afraid to hurt her. She felt as if he was revering every single inch he went through, even if he would retreat for a bit depending on her reactions.

Part of those reactions were of course herself being in an uncharted territory where she had no idea how to act or how to move forward. But slowly she was building confidence by followind his lead on what to do.

And indeed, there was a small pain but her body seemed to react on its own, and after that brief moment, she found herself on a place she had never thought she would be.

When they had recovered their breath, she saw her husband's eyes shining on a special way, the colour as a combination of blue and green with a certain hint of grey, looking at her in awe. She smiled to him and he kissed her softly.

At the bottom of the cliff there was no pain, there was hope that her future didn't need to be void of some resemblance of happiness, and the soft feeling of sleeping in the arms of a man that loved her and would protect her, and that hopefully she could expect to care for, with time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow.
> 
> I had mentioned that the reaction from Rose by last chapter and pretty much her determination towards moving ahead and doing her best to at least have a bearable life while married with Hux was inspired from that scene from The Last Jedi where she willingly gives her medallion to DJ on exchange for his help to The Resistance. Also, pretty much the standard practice of the time was to proceed and consummate a wedding without caring if the bride really loved the groom or not. So I thought it was her choice, and she knows what she felt for Finn, but she is aware that there is no point on looking back, so she embraces change but she got results that she was not clearly expecting for, and I guess it's the fun part.
> 
> And yes, Hux is a cinnamon roll, but he has his character, though. We might find out later.


End file.
